Watching airplane contrails overhead, you may have noticed them transform into a daisy chain of distorted rings. This is an effect known as the Crow instability. The contrails themselves are Keep reading
Tag: Crow instability
Crow Instability
Behind airplanes in flight, water vapor from the engine exhaust will sometimes condense in the wingtip vortices, thereby forming visible contrails. The two initially parallel vortex lines are unstable and Keep reading
Flow Over a Delta Wing
Fluorescent dye illuminated by laser light shows the formation and structure of vortices on a delta wing. A vortex rolls up along each leading edge, helping to generate lift on Keep reading
Wingtip Vortices in Ground Effect
[original media no longer available] If you’ve ever watched airplane contrails fade, you’ve probably observed the Crow instability, which causes the trailing wingtip vortices of the plane to interact and Keep reading